Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem compares the political movement for justice to waves breaking on the shore.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Movements are like waves upon the shore

As they break across the yielding sand,

Rushing ravenously up, and then withdraw,

Though not before remodeling the land.

If change awaits high tide, so let it be.

Nor will waves cease to break when tides are low.

Let us fight for justice ceaselessly,

Uplifted by the seaward undertow.

There is no disappointment in my song,

However much injustice still remains.

Each generation needs to come on strong,

Reckoning the incremental gains.

Know that I am proud of what we’ve won

In spite of all the lives and labor lost.

No cause well worth one’s love is ever done.

Good is good regardless of the cost.

Justice is a wave that breaks, and then

Returns, returns, again, again, again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/moveme.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore